Tuesday, June 14, 2016

A Final Roundup of Dodger Draftees from Round 3

I thought I'd finish of my series of blog post on the 2016 Draft by passing along a complete list of Dodgers draftees. As you know, this past Saturday the Dodgers, as part of day three of the draft, selected 30 more players. Per a Dodger press release:

On the draft’s third and final day, the Dodgers picked eight players with California ties in University of Nevada, Las Vegas and Lincoln (CA) High School pitcher Dean Kremer (14th round), Golden West College and Fountain Valley (CA) High School graduate Dillon Persinger (17th round), California State University, Long Beach pitcher Chris Mathewson (19th round), University of California, Santa Barbara pitcher James Carter (21st round), University of Southern California and Santa Barbara High School graduate Jeff Paschke (22nd round), Texas Tech University and Yuba City (CA) High School graduate Chandler Eden (25th round), Santa Clara University catcher Stevie Berman (31st round) and Chabot College outfielder Cal Stevenson (36th round).

Berman is the son of former UCLA infielder Gary Berman, who was drafted by the Phillies in the 38th round of the 1986 First-Year Player Draft. Darian Tubbs, the 16th round draft pick and an outfielder from the University of Memphis, is the son of former big league outfielder Greg Tubbs, who played for the Cincinnati Reds in 1993.

“We felt like our talent in rounds 11 through 20 was really good,” said
Dodgers director of amateur scouting Billy Gasparino. “(Alexy’s and
Ashcraft’s) talent level obviously fit much higher than the 11th and
12th round. Any time you feel like you get that kind of talent level at
that round you’re excited. These are two guys who have bright futures
and upside. Knock on wood if we can get them signed. They’d be great
adds to the organization.”

The Dodgers drafted 17 pitchers among their final 30 picks on Saturday in Rounds 11-40 of the 2016 MLB Draft, and four of them have one thing in common — they have had Tommy John surgery in their past.

James Carter (21st round), Bailey Ober (23rd), Conor Costello (32nd) and Enrique Zamora (37th) were all picked out of college programs on Saturday by the Dodgers after relatively successful returns from the procedure. They join No. 36 overall pick Jordan Sheffield out of Vanderbilt and second-round pick Mitchell White, who have also had the procedure.

There are also several other notable ballplayers selected by the Dodgers on the third day.

A.J. Alexy - 11th Round - Earlier this year, in early May, Alexy pitched a nine inning game for his high school in Pennsylvania and threw an unconscionable 164 pitches. Per Ken Gurnick at MLB.com:

"I know 164 pitches is unbelievably crazy for an 18-year-old to be throwing," said Alexy. "It was one of those games, my arm felt great, almost seemed like my velocity was the same or increasing throughout the game. My offspeed was working and I kept their team off balance the whole nine innings."

That said, Alexy became a poster boy for young pitcher arm abuse, to the point that his talent as a prospect took a back seat to the potential for injury. He said he came out of that start uninjured, even if his velocity dipped two miles an hour after that start.

"I feel perfectly fine," said Alexy. "I know my coach got a lot of heat from it, and I really feel bad for that. He asked me every inning if I was OK and I told him to give me the ball, I want to compete; that's my idea behind the 164 pitches."

Dean Kremer - 14th Round - Kremer was the first Israeli citizen to be drafted in Major League Baseball. He was drafted last year by the San Diego Padres in the 38th Round. Born in stockton, Dean spends about two months a year in Israel. He played for Team Israel in the 2014 European Championships and hopes to play for the club during the upcoming World Baseball Classic qualifier in September.

Cody Thomas - 13th Round - Cody recently quit playing football at the University of Oklahoma to concentrate solely on Baseball. He was the backup quarterback for the Sooners.

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